Atlas Crate is the newest subscription box from parent company KiwiCo. This box is designed to spark the curiosity and sense of adventure in children ages 6-11 and help them become citizens of the world. Each month they will deliver materials and instructions to provide hands-on experiences to help them develop their sense of cultural awareness.
KiwiCo offers boxes for different age groups: Cricket Crate is for 24-36-month-olds, Koala Crate is for 3-4-year-olds, Kiwi Crate is for 5-8-year-olds, and Doodle Crate, Tinker Crate for 9-16+-year-olds, and Atlas Crate for 6-11-year-olds. There really is something for every age with this company.
This review is of the $19.95 a month Atlas Crate box, for 6-11-year-olds.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Atlas Crate
The Subscription Box: Atlas Crate
The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Use code SPOOKY to save 50% off your first month!
The Products: Crafts and DIY projects for kids, with supplemental learning kits, booklets, and activities. Crates are filled with materials and inspiration to encourage creativity and curiosity about the world.
Ships to: U.S. for free, Canada for $6.95 per month
Atlas Crate October 2018 Review
The country we explored this month was Nigeria and we received this envelope full of information. I love the greeting in another language and the detail of the string closure on the back, it makes it just a smidge more exciting being able to physically open this!
This envelope unfolded to show us a contents list and several pages to add to our Adventure Book. Everything in this box is incredibly organized and nicely packaged making it easy to locate it all!
We received this Adventure Book in our first box and this month they gave us a Nigeria sticker to add to the front of it. The rings of the book open up so that we can add more pages as we receive them.
Our first box was based on the World and contained cards for each of the continents. This time we were able to locate the continent in our book and add our pages behind it. I love that the colored lines on the side match making it easy to locate the correct continent.
These cards are bright and vibrant and full of tons of information about Nigeria on each side.
They also included some unique activities like making masks, a game to play and even a recipe for a dish called Shuku Shuku.
The first activity in our box was a game called Derrah. I think the inclusion of games native to the country is such a fun way to engage kids in other cultures. Most kids love games and it's fun to see what other kids around the world are playing.
We received a nice thick game board that folds up and several yellow and green cubes to play the game with. The object is to get three in a row. First, you have the "dropping" stage where your goal is to get three of your cubes in a row by placing them together. Then you have the "moving" stage which is slightly more challenging as you are allowed to take your opponents cubes to try and get three in a row. Your goal is to get three sets of three in a row on the board and movements are limited to certain directions. My kids are a little young for this, but I think I might have to challenge my husband to a game soon!
Our main activity this month was to make an Adire Eleko pouch. They provided a little bit of information about what it is, a traditional cloth, and gave some information about how the dye is made, but I really wish they would elaborate a bit more on its importance or history in Nigerian culture.
The first step was to put the piece of white cardboard inside our bag and then we drew a grid on the bag using the white wax pencil they provided.
After making our grid of six squares, we were encouraged to add designs to each square using the stencils they provided and also to add some freehand drawings. I mostly stuck to the stencils but added a little bit extra to balance it out. I completed these stencils and grid marks on both sides of the bag.
To add color we were given three cups and three tubes of paint in blue, dark blue and purple, as well as a piece of wax paper to work on top of.
I added water to the cups and then emptied a paint tube into each one and stirred it with the paintbrush they provided to mix it up. Then it was time to paint!
The top photo is my bag immediately after painting, while the next two are from the next morning when they were dry. I like that the colors faded a bit, but if you wanted a deeper color you could have painted another layer over top. I love the way the wax resist areas really popped the next day!
The best part is, our Derrah game fits inside and we can cinch it up for storage!
Verdict: I enjoyed learning about Nigeria in this month's Atlas Crate and I especially enjoyed making my Adire Eleko pouch! I think it really turned out beautifully and I can see why it was chosen for this box since it is such a unique art form. Although, I can't help but wish we had just one more piece of Nigerian culture in our box to round out the experience. I also wish they gave just a bit more background information on the activities they did include. Overall, this was still a fun and educational box and I think as part of an ongoing subscription it was worth the $19.95 cost of the box plus free shipping, but I am hoping for just a little bit more in our next box!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes, it is likely since this is a fairly new subscription, but keep this in mind- from Kiwi Co:
Crates are assigned each month based on availability and your crate history - not all subscribers receive the same theme each month.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: Use code SPOOKY to save 50% off your first month!
Check out all of our KiwiCo reviews and more boxes for ages 5-8 and ages 9-12 in the Kids Subscription Box List!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of Atlas Crate?
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